Broadband VHF Aeronautical Communications System Based on MC-CDMA (B-VHF) Specific Targeted Research or Innovation Project (STREP) conducted under Priority #4 - Aeronautics and Space - of the 6 th Framework Programme of the EC C. Rihacek (Christoph.Rihacek@frequentis.com) FREQUENTIS GmbH Aeronautics Days 2006, Vienna, 19 June 2006 Page: 1
Contents Background B-VHF System Requirements B-VHF System Approach System Introduction and Transition B-VHF Consortium Page: 2
Background VHF communications are an important enabler for future ATM Today s VHF systems (DSB-AM, VDL) waste spectrum resources and will become saturated around 2015-2020 Rapid air traffic growth mandates state-of-the-art technology! With increased capacity, safety and robustness With improved performance and efficiency Affordable, with realistic deployment scenario Sharing spectrum with legacy systems 4 Aeronautical VHF band in Europe is congested spectrum sharing is the only way to deploy a new VHF system Our approach: Broadband VHF system Developed within the B-VHF project (01.01.2004 30.09.2006) Co-funded by the EC within the 6th Framework Programme Page: 3
B-VHF System Requirements B-VHF project checks the feasibility of a new broadband VHF communications system For safety-critical ATS and AOC communications Preserving current operational procedures Respecting existing airborne architectures Cost-effective for airlines and ground ATS providers Providing increased capacity, performance and security compared to legacy narrowband systems Supporting existing- and being prepared for future voice and data communications services Deployable in the VHF and other aeronautical ranges with sound transition strategy Based on OFDM and CDMA Page: 4
Current VHF Band Situation Power Analog 25 khz VHF AM-Channel 8.33 khz VHF AM-Channel 25 khz Frequency Digital 25 khz VHF VDL-Channel At any point in space Only near transmitters are seen with full power Allocated channels are not effectively used all the time Above statements have been validated via measurements and simulations Page: 5
VHF Spectrum Usage over Europe Ground and in-flight measurements (UK/Core Europe) Worst-case local occupancy: obtained via modelling and simulations with NAVSIM tool Entire VHF COM Spectrum London Amsterdam -50 dbm -80 dbm Brussels Paris -110 dbm 118 MHz 137 MHz Page: 6
B-VHF System Approach What is B-VHF System? Broadband terrestrial cellular system based on multi-carrier OFDM technology High capacity/high performance integrated voice and data link system tailored for specific aeronautical needs 4 Supporting existing and emerging applications and services Why OFDM? OFDM is proven by high-capacity bandwidth-efficient techniques (DAB, DVB-T, W-LAN) 4 COTS products are already available - 4G development will create additional re-usable components OFDM enables in-band deployment (overlay concept) Page: 7
System Introduction Based on Overlay Power Analog 25 khz VHF AM-Channel 8.33 khz VHF AM-Channel 25 khz Frequency Digital 25 khz VHF VDL-Channel B-VHF OFDM Carriers Local narrowband allocations remain in operation B-VHF system avoids areas occupied by legacy VHF systems Distant VHF channels are locally re-used for B-VHF If maximum received power remains below some threshold Page: 8
Transition Power Analog 25 khz VHF AM-Channel 8.33 khz VHF AM-Channel 25 khz Frequency Digital 25 khz VHF VDL-Channel B-VHF OFDM Carriers DSB-AM & VDL channels are progressively withdrawn and replaced by the B-VHF OFDM carriers Page: 9
B-VHF Project and Consortium Partners Frequentis GmbH (FRQ) - project co-ordinator German Aerospace Center (DLR) National Air Traffic Services (En Route) plc (NERL) Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) Gent University (UGent) BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd (BAES) University of Salzburg (UniSBG) Scientific Generics Ltd (SGL) Lufthansa German Airlines (LH) Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS) University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) Project website: www.b-vhf.org Page: 10